The Third Regiment of Cavalry was organized
by an act of Congress approved May 19, 1846,
as the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen; and its
present designation is in consequence of the
act approved August 3, 1861, classifying all
the mounted regiments as cavalry, and the subsequent
numbering of them in the chronological order
of their original organization.

The act provided for one colonel, one lieutenant
colonel, one major, and one lieutenant for adjutant;
a sergeant-major, quartermaster-sergeant, chief
musician, two chief buglers; ten companies, each
to consist of one captain, one first and one
second lieutenant, four sergeants, four corporals,
two buglers, one blacksmith, one farrier, and
64 privates.

The pay was that for dragoons, but, through
error or design, was the same mounted or dismounted,
by interpretation. The bill appropriated $75,000
for mounting and equipping, and $3000 for each
station established along the Oregon route. But,
best of all for the regiment's future esprit
and the good of the service, it was accorded
lineal promotion from bottom to top, and distinctive
uniform, arms, equipments and ornaments; and
the officers recruited the material they were
to fashion and command, and could enlist only
"young men of the country" especially fitted
for the service anticipated.

The senior officers were political appointments,
made with some attention to equitable geographical
distribution over the south and west. They were
announced at once, to rank from May 27, 1846.

Persifor F. Smith of Louisiana, a lawyer by
profession, a gentleman of culture and ability,
and destined to prove a skillful and successful
general, was appointed colonel.

John C. Fremont, lieutenant of topographical
engineers, essaying the conquest of California,
was appointed lieutenant colonel, resigning March
15, 1848, before he joined. The story of his
life is current history.

George S. Burbridge of Kentucky, a country merchant
and politician without martial taste or ambition,
and in poor health, was made major. He saw no
active service, resigning January 8, 1848, while
on prolonged sick leave.

The captains were Wm. W. Loring, Winslow F.
Sanderson, Samuel H. Walker, Henry C. Pope, George
B. Crittenden, Stevens T. Mason, John S. Simonson,
Jacob B. Backenstos, Bela M. Hughes and Stephen
S. Tucker. Hughes declined and the appointment
was tendered Charles F. Ruff of Missouri, a late
lieutenant of the First Dragoons, then serving
in New Mexico as a lieutenant colonel of Doniphan's
regiment, who accepted,

* An Abridgment of Captain Morton's
"Historical Sketch of the Third Cavalry."

194

taking rank from July 7th. Walker was a Virginian
and Texas ranger who had distinguished himself
by carrying the message to the beleaguered troops
in Fort Brown to hold out, passing through the
Mexican lines and returning.

The first lieutenants were Benjamin S. Roberts,
Thomas Ewell, Andrew Porter, Michael E. Van Buren,
Llewellyn Jones, Noah Newton, Thomas Duncan,
Wm. W. Taylor, Andrew J. Lindsay, John G. Walker
and Spear S. Tipton. Jones was the first adjutant.
Tipton was captain of an Indiana volunteer company
and son of Senator Tipton, who was an ensign
and commanded a company at Tippecanoe after all
the other officers had fallen, and later married
the daughter of the dead captain, Spear Spencer.

The following brevet second lieutenants were
assigned on the 17th of July; Daniel M. Frost,
George W. Hawkins, John P. Hatch, Gordon Granger,
Dabney H. Maury, Innis N. Palmer, James Stuart,
Alfred Gibbs, and George H. Gordon.

Consistent with army administration by politicians,
men of experience or educated for the profession
were placed in the lower grades. An old army
surgeon said that under the Sumner regime companies
would go to drill with full complements of officers,
and return under command of brevet second lieutenants,
all the seniors having been relieved in the order
of rank by the stern old major for inefficiency,
and for this reason it was chaffed for a time
as the "Kangaroo Regiment." Another who served
with it later said, "The officers were all gentlemen,
brave and generous to a fault, strict disciplinarians,
and looked well after the wants of their men,
but the most cantankerous lot I ever met."

Companies C and F were recruited in the mountain
regions of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia,
and North Carolina, with depot at Fort McHenry;
the others in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky,
Tennessee, and Missouri, with the depot at Jefferson
Barracks commanded by Colonel Bonneville, where
the regiment was organized in October, excepting
Company I, which, owing to the absence of Captain,
Ruff, was not formed until the first of the following
April, at New Orleans.

There is much evidence extant as to the superior
material of which the regiment was made. It was
armed with the hunting rifle, persistently called
the "yawger." The barrel was too large for the
shank of the bayonet furnished, and the latter
was used for a time with a wooden plug that fitted
into the bore, another source of chaff for army
wags. Company blacksmiths eventually overcame
this difficulty by swelling the shanks.

Notwithstanding that the law had presumably
fixed the nature of the service of the regiment,
and recruiting officers had been sincere in their
representations, the administration found no
impediment in the way of ordering it to Mexico
early in November, a mandate greeted with cheers
immediately after the dress-parade at which it
was read. Indeed, Companies C and F reached Point
Isabel, Texas, October 5, thence went to Monterey
and later to Tampico, joining at Lobos Island.
Soon after horses and equipments

195

were received, the regiment left, November and
December, in detachments of one or two companies
on steamers for New Orleans, all experiencing
delay there in getting transportation for Point
Isabel. The horses were placed on schooners with
lumber sheds erected for shelter. It was a particularly
stormy season and most of them were lost in the
gales encountered in crossing the Gulf, while
the remainder were transferred to the Second
Dragoons, sadly in need of them,—another source
of chaff, "dismounted riflemen." Disappointing
as was this loss of horses, it proved a blessing
by saving the regiment from being left behind
to escort trains for Taylor's army and chase
guerrillas in the chaparral, and permitting it
instead to participate in the campaign where
it won such renown.

Major Burbridge left the regiment at New Orleans,
and Major Sumner was assigned December 12th,
to command. Some companies arrived at Point Isabel
and went to Camp Page the last of December, the
others in January. In the meantime General Scott,
arriving, took D and probably another company
to Camargo as escort. The regiment embarked,
February 20, 1846, for Lobos Island, arriving
two days later. Here it met Companies C and F,
and was first joined by Colonel Smith.

March 3d it sailed, and on the 9th landed at
Sacrificios Island and led in the investment
of Vera Cruz, Private Timothy Cunningham of Company
A, who was killed on the 11th by a cannon ball,
being the first of the regiment to lose his life
in action; Waller and Niell of B being wounded
the same day.

Company C only was mounted until I joined at
Jalapa, though men from others were attached
much of the time. Colonel Smith commanded the
First Brigade, Twiggs' Division, and Major Sumner
the regiment. There was continuous annoyance
from the rear during the siege and almost daily
skirmishes; on the 23d a brilliant affair at
Puente del Medio, C, D and E. Among the wounded
of D was Sergeant Wm. B. Lane, who rose to be
major of the regiment and brevet colonel, of
whom much might be said, and of his good wife
who has told so charmingly in her little book,
A Soldier's Wife," of female life in the regiment.
Here too "Benny" Roberts, commanding C, attracted
attention to the superior material in him that
was to make an enviable record as a mounted officer.

The regiment started, April 8th, from its camp
at Vegara on that memorable expedition of conquest
of which history recounts none more daring in
conception, nor brilliant and thorough in successful
execution.

Detachments were with Captain Johnson in the
affair of the 12th, and on the 15th Roberts commanded
the squadron reconnaissance that found the possible
route to turn the "Gibraltar" of Mexico—Cerro
Gordo—which proved its downfall, but only after
the fierce battles of the 17th and 18th, which
cost the regiment in its terrific assaults the
lives of Mason, Ewell, Davis and ten men; and
the wounding of Sumner, McLane, Maury, Gibbs,
Gordon and 66 men, many of whom died. Company
A had an officer (Ewell) and two men killed,
and 19 men wounded.

General Scott expressed his admiration of the
"style of execution" of the assaults, and said
Ewell fell sword in hand within the works. In
fact the General knelt by his side, took his
hand, and soothed his expiring moments

196

with kind words of praise. Mason's leg was swept
away by a cannon ball. Maury won a brevet, as
did several others, and a handsome sword.

After "embarrassing" their general with prisoners
and trophies of victory, they pursued the enemy
to Encerro, and on the 19th to the Mexican Saratoga,—Jalapa.
The Castle of Perote, "second only to San Juan
d'Ulloa," fell at noon, the 22d, and on sped
Worth to Puebla. The supply departments, unequal
to the valor of our troops, cause vexatious delays
and failure to follow up further these splendid
victories over a demoralized enemy, and give
time for disease to make fearful inroads in the
ranks, and the foe to reorganize and fortify
a naturally strong defensive country, and to
swarm the highways in desperate, barbarous, guerrilla
warfare.

Ruff, with I, mounted, arrives May 20, and also
Walker with hundreds of recruits. The latter
is sent with C to Perote, and the former on the
roads; and Roberts is placed in command of a
battalion of "irregulars," all to wage war against
the relentless, partisan "rancheros." It was
hard riding nearly all the time, encounters almost
daily. Space allows mention of but one or two.

Near La Hoya, June 20, thirty riflemen engage
and defeat 500 Mexicans, eliciting high praise
of Walker from Colonel Wyncoop, commanding, and
in turn from Walker of Denman, Claiborne and
men.

July 30, Ruff's squadron defeats a largely superior
force at San Juan de los Llanos, killing 40 and
wounding 50; winning praise from Smith and Scott,
and brevets for Ruff and John G. Walker. The
War Department has given this date wrongly.

The rifle being clumsy to handle mounted, necessitated
firing one round and then riding the enemy down
with the sabre,—A custom that soon infused the
officers and men with the conviction that they
were irresistible; an idea that is not yet quite
extinct.

The regiment left Puebla with the advance, August
7th, and reached Ayotla the 11th, making a reconnaissance
of the impregnable fortified stronghold, El Penon,
on the 12th and 13th, eliciting again the praise
of General Scott. The turning of Lake Chalco
making the exposed rear "the post of honor,"
the riflemen were assigned to it, stood off the
enemy in overwhelming numbers, and when San Antonio
thwarted further progress were rushed to the
front to open the way across the pedregal
to Contreras, the 19th.

Here General Smith displayed generalship and
won success worthy of the genius of Napoleon;
and General Shields showed the good sense and
moral courage of Logan at Nashville, that made
him "the hero of three wars," and senator from
as many states; winning a splendid victory over
a ten times superior force partly fortified,
when defeat would have been dire disaster to
the whole army. Yea more, he made possible four
sweeping victories in a single day,—August 20,
1847,—the greatest field day as yet for our army.

Roberts with A, and Porter with F, open the
fray on the 19th, but all were soon engaged,
and the horrible execution of their rifles appalls
the newspaper men and demoralizes the enemy.
Smith is everywhere and leads a part of the rifles
to save Magruder's battery. D is thus split and
Sergeant

197

Lane leads a segment, which is given to Van
Buren at night, to head and fall wounded in the
day-break assault. Alfred Gibbs gathers a few
madcap volunteer riflemen, hastily mounts them
on captured animals and sweeps with impetuosity
upon the rear of the fleeing columns until paralyzed
with captures; and the regiment rushes on to
Churubusco.

Poor Ruff ! Once placed in arrest for bringing
on an engagement and summoned before his indignant
commander-in-chief, could only explain "'Twas
fight or run, and I'd be 'blanked' if I'd run."
He was, the 20th, at another "post of honor,"
San Augustine, with I and the no less gallant
J. G. Walker, chafing over the din and roar of
battles, and pining to be in the armed tornado
of Harney's dragoons who were careering among
the flying hordes, and under a terrific fire,
rattling their sabres at the gates of the Mexican
capital. But they too have their day. With Sumner
at Molino del Rey, September 7th, they charge
under a heavy fire, encounter an impassable ravine
which they turn, and defeat a vastly superior
force of "the finest cavalry in the world," we
are told. I's ranks are sadly decimated, and
Walker carried to his grave in 1893 the marks
of the wound he caught.

Neither Walker's nor Van Buren's hurt could
keep either from taking a gallant part in the
fall of Chapultepec, the struggle along the aqueduct
and assault of the garitas, the 13th; and triumphant
entry into the city, the 14th. The newspapers
tell us that when the marines faltered in the
assault of Chapultepec through loss of officers,
Morris of the Rifles reminded them that
he was a son of his naval father, and led them
on to victory.

Roberts was detailed to head and "Jimmy" Stuart
to accompany the Chapultepec storming party from
the First Brigade. General Twiggs gave the former
a flag, now in the Department of State in Washington,
saying he wanted it to be the first planted upon
the rocky fortress. If not actually "planted,"
the request was doubly kept, for, turning from
that bloody victory it was carried by Sergeant
Manly of F through the stubborn fight along the
aqueduct, and was one of the first, if not the
first, on the ramparts of the city at the Belem
garita, where Loring left an arm, and Backenstos,
Tucker, Palmer, and even Walker again, of the
officers were wounded.

And the next day comes the crowning glory of
the war. Roberts is directed to, and Sergeant
Manly actually does, raise the same flag over
the National Palace, while Porter displays the
Riflemen's flag from the balcony. General Scott
riding by the regiment about this time, halts,
takes off his hat and bowing low says: "Brave
Rifles! Veterans! You have been baptized

in fire and blood and have come out steel."
Words are cheap, but appreciation sinks deep
in the hearts of soldiers.

Manly dies of his wounds in a few days, as indeed
do many others. Street-fighting and assassinations
occur for a time, and the regiment is put on
provost duty in the city. Loring and Van Buren
have to go to the States with their wounds, but
the fame of the regiment precedes them and the
ladies of New Orleans present a $225 flag "To
that gallant regiment which from its landing
at Vera Cruz to its entry into the famed 'City
of the Montezumas' has been foremost in every
battle, sustaining by the valor and sacrifices
of its officers and men the flag of our beloved
country." The regiment still has the flag, and
reveres its associations.

198

The Mexican army escaping from the city made
stupendous efforts to destroy all communications,
laid siege to Puebla, where several of the regiment
fell, and Rhett won a brevet. Captain Walker
at Perote had organized the convalescents into
the "diarrhoea brigade," as it was called, and
with "C" was kept on the jump. October 9th he
had a fierce encounter at Huamantla with a much
superior force, and fell gallantly with many
of his men, eliciting loud praise from General
Lane for his bravery and efficiency, and lamented
by all who knew him. His death promoted Van Buren
captain.

General Smith was governor of the city. Police
duty, hard, riding after guerrillas, and occasional
encounters, characterized the rest of the service
in Mexico. Notable among the latter were the
fights at Metamoras November 23d ; Galaxara,
the 24th, 1847 ; and Santa Fé, January
4, 1848. The regiment left Vera Cruz on the ship
Tyrone, July 7, 1848, reaching New Orleans
the 17th and leaving the same day on the Aleck
Scott, arriving at Jefferson Barracks the
24th, having had some men die and others drowned
on the trip.

Approximately the regiment lost in Mexico four
officers and 40 men killed; 13 officers and 180
men wounded, many of the latter dying and could
be properly rated as killed; one officer, and
202 men died; 141 men were discharged for disability,
largely from wounds; 17 desertions, many of which
were undoubtedly assassinations; and three men
dishonorably discharged, one of whom was drummed
out. This showing should refute the averment
that strict discipline causes desertions, and
its study will show the superior loyalty of native
material. From the men were promoted to be commissioned
officers:—Addison, Bootes, Coleman, Davis, Demerest,
Dryer, Hand, Irvine, Lane, Underwood, Wingate,
and perhaps others. Colonel John Green was a
rifleman in Mexico, but was promoted later. A.
F. Suter was the surgeon until his death, December
17, 1847. It was not a chaplain regiment.

The appointment as lieutenant in the regiment
of the celebrated "Kit" Carson, in 1847, was
not confirmed by the Senate.

Loring was now the lieutenant-colonel, vice
Fremont, and as General Smith was kept constantly
away commanding divisions or departments until
his promotion to brigadier general, December
30, 1856, he commanded the regiment till 1861,
from which fact many think he was the first colonel.

The incidents of the long, weary march Of 2500
miles to Oregon, beginning May 10, 1849, through
a country without roads and often without wood,
water or grass, and compared to which the loud
boasted modern ones sink into insignificance,
would, more than fill the limits of this sketch.
Cholera raged in the stream of emigrants allured
by visions of gold to the new Eldorado in California,
and fabulous stories were inflaming the minds
and turning the heads of the soldiers. Unlimited
wealth could be picked up for the trouble! The
death rate was appalling. Excepting Fort Kearney
and the fur trading station, Laramie, there was
not a house between Leavenworth and the Columbia.
On reaching the latter the horses were too much
worn down to march, and the mules to haul loads
over the Cascade Range. Men were

199

dismounted and the horses driven by details
at easy stages. An enormous raft was constructed
and the baggage put aboard to float down, while
the command marched on foot. The detachment on
the raft let it get into the terrific current
of the rapids, it became unmanageable and was
dashed to pieces against the boulders. All but
one were drowned and the entire cargo was lost.
It was a sad plight in this region, but not unmixed,
for the officers' returns were nicely balanced
to date, and calumny says that for years after
things would turn up lost on that raft.

Quarters for the winter were found in Oregon
City, about the only town in the region. Loring
soon looks up a site and locates Columbia Barracks,
now Fort Vancouver, leaves a natural tree for
a fine flagstaff, and by actual experiment places
the officers' quarters so far apart that a crying
baby cannot be heard in the next.

There was hard work, much detached service,
some hanging of Indians by Governor Lane, the
comrade general in Mexico, and disagreeable service,
but not much fighting.

In 1851 the regiment returned to the States,
the horses and all the men but about seven non-commissioned
officers to each company being transferred to
the First Dragoons.

In April Lieutenants Walker and Stuart were
sent overland to California with the horses and
some of the men transferred. En route they had
a fight on June 18 with Rogue River Indians,
and in the charge "Little Jimmy" Stuart, the
pride of the regiment and one who had won two
brevets at Chapultepec, was killed. Traditions
of his brave and noble character live in the
regiment to this day.

The regiment left Vancouver May 8, and proceeding
by water via Savanna, Havana and New Orleans
reached Jefferson Barracks July 16, to recruit
and organize for the third time at the same place
within five years.

Recruits came streaming in and the companies
were soon filled, and in December, 1851, and
January, 1852, the regiment, except A and K,
was transferred to Texas. Then commenced over
four years of hard field service in this land
of cactus, chaparral and magnificent distances.
The Comanche and Lapin Indians that had kept
this country terrorized for two centuries would
not yield their sway. Approaching stealthily
in great numbers, they would scatter in numerous
small parties and simultaneously attack many
widely separate unsuspecting localities, and
from each leave a trail of blood. These outrages
were generally committed as far as possible from
the troops, but sometimes, with consummate daring,
under their very noses. Captain Bourke tells
of a later expedition, in which companies of
the regiment took part, in over 20,000 words;
Doctor McKee of another in a little less; how
hopeless the task here. The companies simply
made with their trails a spider-web of the map
of that great empire state. The highways were
so vexed with these savage pests that everything
had to have an escort, and even companies had
to march way down to Corpus Christi to meet their
recruits and get their meagre supplies and clothing.

We left A and K at Leavenworth. They were kept
constantly on the move in the country between
Laramie and Leavenworth until January, 1854,
when they also were transferred to Texas, reaching
Fort Inge Feb-

200

ruary 27. Lieutenant (now General) Carr, one
of this command, was wounded October 3, this
same year, in an engagement with Mescalero Apaches,
way out near Fort Davis. Captain Van Buren commanded
and Levi H. Holden was medical officer on the
last trip to Laramie. Some 40 men of A, with
Lieutenants Morris and Baker, were not along,
but were an escort to Captain Gunnison, Topographical
Engineers, and went to southern Utah, where three
men were killed, with the captain, October 26,
near Lake Sevier.

These enormous marches in a season, on plains
fare, though not so hard as scouting, are worthy
of study by modern readers and writers of magazine
articles on long marches; and by those who are
ignorant of the work performed by our army, and
think nothing that is not from a foreign service
is of any value. No nation has enjoyed a better
practical school for an army than our own.

Before the Carr affair, Van Buren went out with
A from Inge, July 4, after a band that had run
him in that day from fishing in the beautiful
Leona. He followed them many days through the
almost impenetrable jungle of chaparral along
the Nueces, which he crossed and recrossed many
times, when on the 11th he struck them, and in
the charge had an arrow put through him from
which he died on the 20th. Thus fell another
hero of the Mexican War. Jerome N. Bonaparte
and Crosby joined in 1852; Bowen, Chambliss,
and Edson, 1853; Davant Wright and J. E. B. Stuart,
1854; McNally, Treacy, Dubois and Averell, 1855;
William H. Jackson and Enos, 1856. All were from
West Point except McNally and Treacy who came
from the ranks.

In 1856 the Indian troubles in New Mexico, which
then included Arizona, demanded. more troops,
and the regiment was ordered there, being relieved
by the Second (now Fifth) Cavalry. At Camp Crawford,
near Fort Fillmore, orders were received assigning
the companies to Forts Craig, Stanton, Thorn,
Fillmore, Bliss and Marcy, and Las Lunas, and
Cantonment Burgwin. Some of the companies marched
fifteen hundred miles in this change.

The enormous territory over which the regiment
was scattered, the predatory disposition of the
Indians, and the entirely inadequate force of
troops, kept the companies of the regiment on
the keen jump until it left for the States to
take part in the Civil War. The country from
Denver to Las Nogales, and from Texas to Utah,
was within the sphere of its operations, and
it was required to restrain and subdue hostile
Indians outnumbering it fifty to one. It would
take a volume to give any definite notion of
its field work, or even of the scouts and expeditions
upon which the enemy was met and defeated with
more or less loss in killed and wounded.

Captain Gibbs came near losing his life from
a dangerous wound, March 9, 1857, in the Mimbres
mountains. Two larger expeditions were made the
same year against the Coyotero and Gila Apaches,
each having several encounters with losses. Colonel
Loring, with K and detachments from other companies,
left Fort Union, April 8, 1858, and joined the
Utah expedition, in which he commanded a battalion,
marching past where Denver now is and old Fort
Bridger, returning to Union, September 14th,
direct

201

from Salt Lake. In the meantime A, C, F, H and
L were participating in the Navajo war, of which
Colonel Lane has told us something, and it is
hoped that General Averell will tell us more
in his forthcoming book. The latter was wounded
October 9, and in this chronic warfare brave
Captain McLane fell at the head of I in an engagement
at Cold Spring, near the southern base of Black
Rock, October 13, 1860. Just before the charge
he handed his flask to a comrade whom he had
challenged and said, "Let's take a drink; it
may be our last together."

While the companies were scattered at these
remote stations and camps, weeks behind the news
of current affairs, and one-third of our people
had plunged into secession believing it right,
another third declaring coercion wrong, and but
the other third taking the stand that saved the
Union, the impotency of the administration seemingly
acquiescing in the claimed right of secession;
some of the officers imbibed the epidemic political
heresy of "State's Rights," and at no little
sacrifice, cast their lots with the seceded States,
breaking close, tender and cherished ties of
comradeship, and severing their connection with
a service they revered and had honored. This
is no apology for disloyalty to this Union, but
a statement of circumstances that historical
fairness demands. The rank and file remained
loyal to a man. Those who quit at this juncture
were Loring, Crittenden, Lindsay, Walker, Claiborne,
Maury, Baker, W. H. Jackson, "Joe" Wheeler, McNeill,
Kerr, Henry and Watts. The last three had never
joined for duty, and were of the regiment only
on paper.

The companies of the regiment operating against
the Mescalero Apaches were particularly active
in the winter and spring of 1861, the headquarters
of the regiment being in the field most of the
time. McNally with detachments of B and F had
a stubborn fight at Mesilla, July 25, 1861, with
the new enemy in rebellion, sustaining considerable
loss, McNally being seriously wounded. The abandonment
of Fort Fillmore at midnight of the 26th by Major
Lynde, district and post commander, and his surrender
at San Augustin Springs the next day, caught
not only McNally but Gibbs, who had just met
them escorting a train. So two officers and 88
men of B, F and I, were made paroled prisoners
through treason, or the enervating mental effects
of long blind obedience in intervals of peace,
when officers are charged with responsibilities
but entrusted with little discretionary authority.
It was mutiny to disobey a traitor or an imbecile.

These paroled prisoners were all put in F and
sent to Fort Wayne, Michigan, to serve until
exchanged, but they soon dwindled down to nothing
by discharge, desertion and death. Many, however,
turned up in the ranks again. The changes made
Simonson, colonel; Ruff, lieutenant colonel,
and Roberts and Duncan, majors.

Notwithstanding two more "troops," as they were
now called, were given the regiment, the promotion
and detail of officers so reduced their number
for duty, and the lack of recruits the enlisted
strength, that A, B and H had all their men transferred
to other troops in August, and the regiment became
only a battalion. Roberts was in command.

Late in September, Morris, with C, G and K,
engaged and defeated a rebel force of Texans
near Fort Thorn; E was way out near Fort Wise
cov-

202

ering that country; I was drilling as a light
battery, and carried off the honors at Val Verde,
February 21, 1862, where McRae fell wirh many
of his men,—C, D, G and K also participating.
C and K had an engagement with Indians in Comanche
Cañon, March A Lieutenant Wall among the
wounded; and C and E engaged the rebels at Apache
Cañon the 26th, and Pigeon's Ranch the
28th, Major Duncan being wounded at Apache Cañon.
G and K struck the retreating rebels again near
Albuquerque, April 9th, and again near Peralto
the 15th, D, E and I participating, Morris in
command owing to Duncan's wound.

From the causes mentioned the men of D and E
were transferred, May 15, 1862, to the four remaining
troops which were to constitute the regiment
until the following March. A rebel force demanded
the surrender of K, May 21, but got a fight and
was driven off. "Jerry" Russell, acting second
lieutenant, in command of a detachment of C,
had a fight with Indians, June 18, in Cañon
Ladrone.

In consequence of the retirement of Colonel
Simonson, September 16, 1861, Marshall S. Howe
was promoted colonel of the regiment under the
new system, which, however, did not repeal the
law which made promotion lineal in the regiment.
But appeal and protest were alike in vain. He
joined July 10, 1862, and in September the four
troops were concentrated at Fort Union, and on
the 30th started for Jefferson Barracks, where
they arrived November 23d after a march of 1280
miles.

In December, 1862, the four troops—C, G, I and
K—were transferred to Memphis, Tenn., where they
were joined by B and F, which had been filled
at Columbus and had just joined after a raid
up the Tennessee River. The regiment was first
attached to the 16th, and then to the 15th Corps,
and on October 8, 1863, left Memphis for Corinth,
Miss., thence to Cherokee, Ala., near which C,
F, G and I had an engagement October 21; G and
K on the 24th. Leaving Cherokee with Osterhaus'
Division, the regiment had three distinct engagements
the same day, October 26, near Tuscumbia. November
13, it started for Chattanooga in advance of
Sherman's army, went to Dercherd and returned
to Fayetteville, and then accompanied the column
to Bridgeport, arriving the 15th, thence to Chattanooga
the 23d ; Missionary Ridge, 26th, and Cleveland,
the 30th. It went on the expedition to Knoxville,
via Athens, Louden and Marysville. Leaving Knoxville
December 6, it pursued the enemy's trains over
the Smoky Mountains beyond Murphy, N. C., returning
via Tallisco Plains, Charleston, Cleveland, Chattanooga
and Bridgeport to Huntsville, Ala., December
29th, where it remained on duty until March,
1864, when it proceeded by rail to St. Louis,
Mo., arriving at Camp Davidson the 7th, to leave
May 20th on steamers for Duvall's Bluffs, where
it arrived the 26th, left June 4th and reached
Little Rock the 9th.

Captain Howland commanded the regiment from
the departure of Colonel Howe in May, 1863, until
his return, July 20, 1865, all the field officers—Stoneman,
Roberts, Duncan, Newby and Garrard, as well as
the ranking captains being absent, most of them
as general officers of volunteers.

The duty in Arkansas was principally to prevent
the organization of commands and to suppress
guerrilla bands, escort trains, et cetera. The

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large territory covered necessitated constant
scouting in small detachments, which involved
hard riding, much risk, but no engagements of
magnitude to attract attention, while Sheridan
was winning glory for his cavalry with probably
no harder work.

The enemy would make no stand without having
presumably a great advantage, and they were superior
to the Indians and practised about the same tactics.
Lieut. George Harrington was killed in action
at Memphis, August 21, 1864. Captain Howland,
with 150 men, was ambushed by a much superior
force near Benton, September 4th, and his command
badly demoralized for a time, but rallied to
find no enemy. Though eleven men were lost, this
first reverse in the history of the regiment
was treated with some levity, and the officers
interested ever heard from their fellows of "the
Benton Races."

November 8, Lieutenant Wilson's picket station
was surprised with an attack from these prowlers
and lost some men and horses. Tarlton and Campbell
with forty dismounted men had an engagement until
dark, January 14, 1865, with a force in position
near Dardanelles, but at daybreak found it had
vanished. Though the Rebellion was on its last
legs, a party attacked Carroll's patrol January
22d, not far from Little Rock. Such was their
persistence and daring.

In January, 1866, A, D, E, H, L and M, were
manned at Carlisle Barracks and sent to Little
Rock, where they were, mounted and stationed
at various posts in the State. While E was en
route, near the mouth of the Arkansas, the 28th,
the boilers of the steamer Miami burst,
killing 13, wounding nine, and probably drowning
12 who were missing.

In April, 1866, the regiment was ordered to
New Mexico again. Its service in the States was
probably the easiest it had ever experienced
in the same period of time, though during the
war it had no doubt marched many times the number
of miles marched by any other regiment.

The troops concentrated at Camp Reynolds near
Fort Smith, and marched from that place in three
columns of four troops each, June 7th, 8th and
9th, making a new route to Fort Union, which
it reached August 12th and 14th. From thence
headquarters and B went to Fort Craig, A to Bascom,
C to Wingate, D to Marcy, E and I to Sumner,
G to Stevens, H to Stanton, K to Selden, L to
Albuquerque, and M to Bayard, F remaining at
Union. Then commenced and continued until the
spring of 1870 constant, active field work, usually
with handfuls of men, escorting trains and surveying
parties, guarding highways and protecting flocks
and people from the incursions of, and following
up and punishing Comanches, Kiowas, Apaches,
Utes and Navajos.

The changes in the list of officers were too
numerous, and movements of troops too complicated
to give them space, or even a full list of engagements.
W. N. Greer became colonel in 1866, retiring
in December, 1870, and giving place to J. J.
Reynolds. The following engagements only can
be mentioned:—Alexander and G, with Utes, October
3, 1866. Detachments of G and I near Fort Sumner,
with Navajos, July 9, 1867. D with Mescaleros,
near Guadaloupe Mountains, October 18; and K,
same date, and again near Fort Sumner, November
20, 1867. Detachment of G and I,

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under Adjutant Monahan at Apache Springs, in
June, 1868. Detachment of E in Mimbres Mountains,
October 8th. The Canadian River expedition against
the Comanches in the winter of 1868-69; and engagement
on Christmas Day at Elm Creek, I. T. Detachment
of B from Bayard in May, 1869. Detachment of
K near San Augustin Springs, May 7. F and H with
Mescaleros in San Augustin Pass, August 15th.
F, with Mescaleros in Guadaloupe Mountains in
November; and again Christmas Day in Cañon
Sanguinara, where Lieutenant Yeaton received
his death-wound; and again, December 30th, on
Delaware Creek. In January, 1870, a plot of the
Utes and Jicarilla Apaches at the Ute agency,
Maxwell's ranch, to massacre the officers and
men of A was detected; the Indians were surrounded
and "Corocante" made chief of the Utes.

The orders for the regiment to go to Arizona
sent the headquarters with D and I to Fort Halleck,
Nevada, marching via Denver to Cheyenne. Troops
B, E, F, H and K, serving at the southern posts,
assembled on the Mimbres for the march, leaving
March 2, 1870. Captain Bourke has given, in his
"On the Frontier with Crook," an account of the
march of this column, stations taken by different
troops, and of their busy work, no more arduous
than that of the northern column, composed of
A, C, G, L and M. The first three left Fort Union,
March 8, picking up the other two at, and leaving
Wingate, April 1st; marching up one and down
another Rio Puerco, past Muddy Springs, Sunset
Crossing, Hell Cañon, Cosniño Caves,
Bear Springs to Prescott, and thence to different
stations, A, C and G to Camp Rawlins where they
arrived the 23d,—soon to change.

Indian signal smokes had been seen all along
the latter part of the march, and it soon seemed
that all the tribes had united in one tremendous
effort to terrorize and make Arizona uninhabitable
for the whites. Active operations began at once,
but the troops were thinly scattered and inadequate
in numbers. Wagons could not traverse this land
of volcanic rocks, towering mountains and almost
bottomless cañons; and there were no public
pack trains, no reliable maps, and the Indian
fastnesses were inaccessible and unknown. Hard
as was the incessant field duty it was little
worse than the equally bad fare and miserable
life in tents, jacals, and dug-outs of the hot
and dusty camps. So hard were the officers worked
that the regimental records show but a moiety
of what transpired,-nothing of the splendid work
and fights of the energetic Graham and some others.
General Stoneman said in his official report
for the part of the year 1870-71 in which he
commanded the Department of Arizona, that of
thirty-odd expeditions sent against predatory
Indians, twenty-five had engaged and defeated
hostiles. Yet so far was this from civilization
it was hardly known or noticed by the outside
world.

Small as was the force and miserably supplied,
the expense of the Department was appalling at
Army and Division headquarters, and the mandates
for retrenchments were crippling. The territorial
press frothed at the mouth and its clamor relieved
General Stoneman and brought in May, 1871, Lieutenant-Colonel
George Crook as commander, assigned on his brevet
rank as major general.

Regimental headquarters reached Camp Verde,
April 8, 1871, from

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Nevada, General Grover commanding; D and I,
McDowell, during the spring. In the fall General
Reynolds was relieved from command in Texas,
and the incongruity of placing him under General
Crook took the regiment to the Department of
the Platte in the winter of 1871-72, marching
to Yuma, transferring equipage and horses to
the Fifth Cavalry, and proceeding by water around
Cape San Lucas to Benicia, thence by rail to
Wyoming and western Nebraska.

The engagements in Arizona were as follows:—B,
near San Carlos, April 30, 1870; E, Chiquito
Creek, May 25, East Fork of Verde, June 15, and
Rio Verde, next day; A, Indian Springs, June
24; F, Pinal Mountains, June 25, Apache Mountains,
August 1, Pinalito Mountains, October 6, and
Turnbull Mountains, December 14; H, Pinal Mountains
in December; Detachments of A, E and G, night
of January 7-8,1871 ; A, cañon of Mazatzal
Mountains, January 10; F, three in February;
E and Gin Pinal Mountains in February; K, Peloncilla
Mountains in March and Gila Mountains the 25th;
B, near Date Creek, April 1; F, Sierra Ancha,
April 4, and Apache Mountains the 11th and 12th;
K, Dragoon Mountains, April 16; F, Whetstone
Mountains, May 5, and Guachaca Mountains, June
1st and 10th; A and detachments of E and G, two
on East Fork of the Verde, June 8, and cañon
of Mazatzal Mountains and Wild Rye Creek, the
9th; M, a number in the Sierra Anchas in June;
Detachment of K, Horseshoe cañon, October
24.

The foregoing by no means complete list is given
place as the incomparable service of the regiment
in Arizona has been belittled; indeed its splendid
fighting record from the first has been criticised,—from
reasons to be surmised. This partial showing
of the conspicuous work of F, shows also, somewhat
the character of its commander,—Lieutenant Howard
B. Cushing,—who fell in the affair of May 5,
1871. He was a brother of the immortal Cushing
who blew up the Albermarle, and of the
no less gallant Alonzo H., who fell at Gettysburg.

Limits forbid an account of the wanton massacre
by Tucson "toughs" of Indian women and children
at Camp Grant in 1871, over which the local press
involved Lieutenant Whitman in trouble, honoring
him with so much abuse that Herbert H. Bancroft
dignifies it with a place in his history. The
last detachment of the regiment rather rejoiced
in shaking the hot Arizona dust from their feet
as they stepped on the steamers at Yuma, January
11, 1872.

In the Department of the Platte the troops were
first stationed at Forts Sanders, Russell and
McPherson, and Sidney Barracks, which they reached
early in March after being snow-bound in the
Rockies en route. Active work commenced before
the end of the month and continued for ten years;
at first only in summer, with stations on the
railroad in winter, but soon the severe weather
of that rigorous climate was no bar to the field
duty the year around.

Besides protecting the frontiers of Nebraska,
Kansas and Colorado, the regiment guarded the
enormous reservation of the Sioux, Cheyennes
and other tribes. The stations were located between
them, and their relatives and allies in the Indian
Territory, between whom there was a constant
intercourse by skulking and freebooting bands
that gave much annoyance

206

A at Sydney, and later E and G, were between
those great tribes and the buffalo country,—a
game which the Sioux believed to be their God-given
heritage, and which they would hunt with or without
leave. The young braves were constantly making
their raids upon the cattle herds and ranches
of the settlers and friendly tribes.

These serious annoyances kept the regiment on
the go over the broad barren expanses of country
where wagons could not be used. There were none
of the fine pack-trains since introduced, and
scouting was attended by more dangers from cold
and exposure than from the Sioux, though they
were far better armed than any Indians encountered
before. The chronic state of semi-war was fatal
from hardships and exposure, principally, until
the commencement of 1876, when operations commenced
on a scale so much larger, that only the most
important events can be noticed here.

General Crook took command of the Department
in the spring of 1875, and for ten years the
service of the regiment was connected with his.
The Sioux claimed that all the outrages were
committed by the northern Cheyennes and Minneconjous,
and were charged up to them by the whites. In
a measure this was true, but the Sioux were no
angels. It was determined to bring the former
down to the Sioux agency for control. They would
not come by invitation and it was determined
to make a winter campaign against them. Five
troops of the regiment, five of the Second, and
two companies of the Fourth Infantry, concentrated
at Fort Fetterman, which post it left, March
1, 1876, under the doubled-headed command of
Generals Reynolds and Crook. The expedition furnished
material for a longer narrative than all this.
Let it answer, that after many weeks marching
from Cheyenne, past the Big Horn Mountains almost
to the Yellowstone, and return, having many night
attacks by the enemy, on the 17th it attacked
and destroyed Crazy-Horse's village of 105 lodges.
Hardly an officer or man escaped serious frost
bites or frozen limbs, and the command was incumbered
with many sick and injured, without transportation
for them other than that improvised.

An unfortunate controversy that followed this
really successful and splendid victory perverted
the facts, which may sometime be published in
the interest of truthful history.

The campaign that followed in the summer involved
another return to the Big Horn Country, and embraced
the gallant feat of the 9th of June, when Mills'
battalion plunged into and crossed the swollen
Tongue under fire, and charged and routed a large
force which had attacked the whole command. Then
the battle of the Rosebud on the 17th, defeating
the united forces of the Sioux, which, one week
later, defeated and almost destroyed General
Custer's command on the Little Big Horn, which
latter sad event struck the country with such
awe as to smother all consideration of the former,
though it was probably the greatest Indian battle
in our history—some 1400 soldiers and friendly
Indians, against some 5000 hostiles. The brunt
of the battle fell upon D, F, I and L, of the
Third, which lost some ten killed and forty-odd
wounded, Captain Henry among the latter.

Mr. Finnerty in his "Bivouac and Camp Fire"
has given a conscientious, though not entirely
correct, account of the summer campaign and

207

large long-drawn-out expedition to the Yellowstone
and return by Heart River and the Black Hills,
known as the "Starvation March," where the troops
were for many rainy days reduced to horse-meat
alone for subsistence in their long muddy march;
and the fight at Slim Buttes, September 9, by
a battalion of the Third under Mills and Crawford,
where Schwatka made his gallant charge through
the village of 35 lodges of American Horse and
Roman Nose, Von Luettwitz lost a leg and many
men were killed and wounded.

The Mackenzie expedition in the autumn of 1876,
and its fight with Dull Knife, in which H and
K participated, has been treated exhaustively
by the JOURNAL. Omitting the numerous small encounters
with Indians and road-agents, the campaigns that
followed found the regiment, or part of it, wherever
there was anything to be done, until the Sioux
were once more in hand.

Brief notice must be taken of the Cheyenne outbreak
in the Indian Territory in 1878, which put all
the troops throughout the West upon the qui
vive. Trains of cars were held in readiness
at every station occupied by troops along the
railways, and a battle was fought in western
Kansas, where Colonel Lewis was killed; but the
Cheyennes got away. New troops were switched
on behind them at every point where their presence
was ascertained, but they eluded every effort
and made their way to the Sioux country.

The regiment was on an expedition to the Little
Missouri country and camped on the Belle Fourche,
when it was notified and ordered to push for
the Sioux agencies, and below them, to head the
renegades off; which it did by forced marches.
After floundering in the sand-hills for days,
freezing from absence of wood and suffering for
water, B and D, under Johnson and Thompson, finally
captured the band October 23d, and took it into
Camp Robinson, having a revolt, however, on Chadron
Creek which required the aid of other troops
and a part of the Seventh to suppress. The Indians
declared they would die to a man before they
would return to the Indian Territory, and they
kept their word. Securing arms and ammunition
by the connivance, no doubt, of friendly (?)
Indians, they revolted the night of January 9,
1879, shot down the sentinels and made their
escape. The troops during intensely cold weather
had a series of engagements, ten men killed and
five wounded, before the last hostile Cheyenne
was killed—the 22d—Captain Wessells being shot
in the face in the last charge.

In the summer of 1879 the Utes murdered their
agent—Meeker—treated his wife and daughter worse
as captives, and slaughtered the agency employés.
E of the Third and a troop of the Fifth, with
some infantry, were dispatched to the scene in
all haste. In the battle which followed, September
29th, Major Thornburg was killed, and gallant
old Captain Lawson with E won proud laurels in
averting outright disaster. They were complimented
by a resolution of the Wyoming Legislature, but
otherwise received faint praise, though the troop
lost about fifty per cent. in killed and wounded,
and held the camp until relieved.

General Reynolds retired June 25, 1877, and
was succeeded as colonel by Thomas C. Devin,
who died April 4, 1878; Washington L. Elliott,
who retired March 20, 1879; Albert G. Brackett,
retired February 18, 1891, to be

The troops of the regiment were scattered as
usual at different posts in the Department, A
and M at McKinney, 200 miles from the railroad,
when the Warm Spring Chiricahuas broke out, at
San Carlos, Arizona, in the spring of 1882. And
although the regiment had served a tour in Arizona
while others nearer had not, it was ordered there
by telegraph. Making forced marches to the railway
stations, some of the troops getting snow-bound
en route, they were dropped in a few days' time
through thirteen degrees of latitude and down
some five thousand feet of altitude into a climate
where they had to gasp for breath.

The older officers found a transformation scene
from the Arizona of ten years before. Now there
were comfortable posts fairly supplied, and railroads
and telegraph lines that connected them with
the outer world. The utter loneliness and painful
stillness were gone, but the lofty mountains
and yawning cañons and their old enemy,
less savage and numerous, were still there.

Active work commenced at once, with unacclimated
men and horses that were soon worn out, principally
in chasing false reports from the distracted
population. The hostiles had crossed into Mexico
before the regiment arrived (in May), but they
left their usual trail of blood and thousands
of turbulent Apaches behind. The last soon murdered
the chief of Indian police at San Carlos Agency,
committed other outrages, and broke for the mountain
fastnesses. The major portion of the regiment
had a long stem chase, and in time participated
in the hardest fought engagement on Arizona soil,—Chevelon's
Fork, July 17, 1882,—the Apaches receiving a
lesson which has kept that particular band docile
and manageable ever since. Twenty warriors were
killed, without counting other casualties. Among
our wounded were Lieutenants Converse and Morgan.
A part of the Sixth Cavalry was there and did
its full share, but the Third made the longest
marches.

General Crook took command of the Department
soon after, and in September placed Captain Crawford
in charge of the Indians. The valuable service
rendered by the captain, and by Lieutenants Davis,
West, Dugan and Gatewood, in handling and controlling
the thousands of Indians in Arizona, can never
be estimated. The theme properly treated would
make no small acquisition to history.

In the spring of 1883 Captain Crawford was on
the border after Geronimo and band. The outrages
committed by the Chiricahaus from across the
line were laid at the door of the reservation
Indians, and excited the young braves to skylark,
or chafe under restraint. Crawford formulated
a plan which General Crook allowed him to execute.
He attempted it with his scouts, but the protocol
allowed troops to cross the boundary line only
while in hot pursuit of hostiles. The murder
of judge McComas furnished this plea, and the
capture of "Peaches" by Davis, a key to the Chiricahua
stronghold. General Crook rushed down with some
troops of the Third and Sixth, and crossed before
the order from Washington prohibiting it reached
him,—on a slow horse.

209

Crawford, Mackey and Gatewood, pushed ahead
into the Apache fastnesses in the Sierra Madre,
and, May 15, defeated them in their very strongholds.
Accounts of this expedition err: General Crook
learned of this fight only a day or two after.
The Chiricahuas soon sued for peace, and Geronimo
came in and surrendered to Crawford, and all
were placed under the immediate charge of Davis.

To give the Tenth a change, the Third was treated
to a genuine surprise in 1885, by an order to
go to Texas. It concentrated at Bowie Station,
April 13, for the march which involved a thousand
miles for some of the troops, and it may be said,
for the benefit of some of the numerous writers
of magazine articles on marching cavalry, that
not a public animal was lost on the trip. Before
some of the troops had reached their station,
the Chiricahuas had taken advantage of the departure
of the troops whose officers knew them individually,
their traits, habits, and trails, and the arrival
of new troops with worn-out horses, to break
out and leave another trail of blood. Lieutenant
Davis had been left with these Indians, and immediately
after the oubreak Captain Crawford was ordered
back to the scene of the trouble, and the troops
of the regiment were ordered out to patrol the
upper Rio Grande, to protect the Texas frontier,
and to render such aid as possible to the troops
in Arizona operating against the wily foe. But
while performing this duty, trouble commenced
in the Indian Territory, and these same troops
were hurried to the nearest railroad station
and embarked without further preparation for
the new field of operations, from which some
of them did not return for nearly two years—marching
1500 miles. In the meantime the officers of the
regiment in Arizona had been constantly in the
field following and fighting the hostiles, and
Captain Crawford had a last hard fight with them
on January 10, 1886, at Nacori in Sonora, Mexico.
He captured their camp, baggage, women and children.
The bucks had escaped only with their arms into
the ravines at dark, but had promised, through
the squaws, to come in next morning and surrender.
The morning brought an attack, which was at first
supposed to be by Geronimo and his warriors,
but which proved a lawless band of Mexicans,
who suspended their fire for a time, and then,
during the parley, treacherously fired a volley
that sent a bullet through the brain of Captain
Crawford. But this was soon avenged by a contest
that killed the commander and two officers, routing
the entire command. Subsequently they pleaded
a mistake, and Lieutenant Maus, accepting the
excuse in good faith, ventured within their lines,
and gave them a note conceding the sad mistake.
Thereupon he was made a prisoner and held until
he gave some pack-mules as a ransom. Our Government
subsequently demanded recompense for the mules,
but, notwithstanding the second act of treachery,
the loss of Captain Crawford, who had given his
energy and health and finally yielded his life
to the service, was not sufficient to arouse
the Department of State to any decided action.
Fort Crawford was named in honor of the noble
captain, as were Ewell, McLane and McRae for
the gallant fellows who fell before him. The
request to call the post at Eagle Pass Fort Yeaton
did not bear fruit.

During the last tour in Texas the cavalry was
degraded into mounted

210

infantry. Its most onerous duty was the consumption
of contractor's forage and trying to keep cool,
until the local press gave Garza sufficient notoriety
to secure some lawless adherents who created
trouble in 1891-93. This was known as the "Tin
Horn War," from the sensational dispatches furnished
the press. It involved much hard riding, however;
several skirmishes and some losses, but most
of the blood spilt resulted from thorns of the
chaparral. Captain Hardie, with G, did much effective
work and carried off the honors, where all were
working hard.

In the summer of 1893 the regiment was ordered
to Fort Riley and posts in Oklahoma where it
now serves, somewhat degenerate in the art of
war but ready to respond to the first trumpet
call for warriors, and will feel proud of any
regiment in our service that has in the same
period marched more miles, had more fighting,
lost more officers and men without disaster,
or which excels it in any of the essentials of
real soldiering, and will cheerfully grant it
the palm, and if in. a foreign service, will
yield gracefully to its claims to superior excellence.